Transmitting Awakened Spirit Consciousness
What, in the World, is Holy Spirit?
Part Four
Eastern religions and traditions have for centuries featured the transmission of enlightenment from a guru to their followers.
Notice the similarities between Jesus' practice and these ancient Eastern traditions. In these traditions, Shakti is considered the energy of consciousness that is the substance of the universe. This is what the Bible terms holy spirit.
Shaktipat is a Sanskrit term referring to transmitting spiritual energy from one person to another. Yogani, an anonymous American spiritual scientist with 50 years of experience blending yoga with the modern lifestyle, says, "Shaktipat is the direct transmission of spiritual energy from guru to disciple. Transmissions of spiritual energy can also occur in the form of darshan (blessing from a master), satsang (keeping spiritual company), through our chosen ideal by the intensity of our own internal bhakti (devotion), and even from reading inspired spiritual writings. It is all spiritual energy flowing in us through various influences, and it can happen in many ways. It is our bhakti that determines the degree of flow more than anything. When the bhakti is intense, the energy will flow from somewhere, from everywhere."
Sangeetha Saran is a prominent yoga instructor. She writes,
"Shaktipat is a Sanskrit word that means "descent of divine grace" from master to disciple. The initiatory ritual of Shaktipat is rooted in ancient Vedic wisdom from India's tantric Yoga traditions. It is also known as "energy transmission," "initiation," or "empowerment." Shaktipat is the process by which a spiritual teacher or guru transfers energy to a student, initiates them into a particular spiritual practice, or empowers them to direct experience of the divine.
The experience of shaktipat can vary depending on the individual and the type of transmission they receive. Some people report feeling a physical sensation of energy flowing through their body, while others report having mystical experiences or visions. There is no "right" way to experience shaktipat; each person's experience is unique."
Other traditions practice the same kind of transmission that was a core element of Jesus' ministry with the energy and power of spirit. Though using different terms, these similar experiences are a crucial part of the ongoing loving evolution of the world.
Another look at Jesus and the early church's practice of transmission
In the first article in this series, I examined the results of spiritual transmission in the Bible. Now we look at some of the same events focusing on the transmission itself.
Jesus transmitted intensified consciousness, then called spirit, to his close friends. "As Abba has sent me, even so, I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive holy spirit.'" (John 20:2)
Pentecost and 120 of Jesus' followers
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, from heaven, there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, filling the entire house where they were sitting.
Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning."
This collective transmission resulted in ecstasy, bliss, and subtle phenomena such as mystical languages of prayer, praise, and joy. It was also the initiation of the subsequent collective transmission that we see in the book of Acts.
Peter and John prayed for the new Christians in Samaria. Peter was speaking to Cornelius and his friends when they all had an experience of intensified or non-ordinary consciousness.
Modern Pentecost?
More recently, similar types of experiences with spirit and transmission have happened across the globe through the charismatic and Pentecostal movements. Some with dramatic "drunkenness" and others in more subdued ways.
My then co-pastor and now ICNer Marcia Fleishman and I were prayed for by several leaders in the charismatic movement back then. This was called resting the spirit, and Marcia was immediately on the floor. People around me were falling to the floor, but not me. I had too many internal brakes on for anything that dramatic. I had to come along on my own meditative path to have these kinds of experiences, although I have still never "rested in the spirit." This was what I would now call deep, non-ordinary transcendent consciousness.
One time twenty-five years ago, Marcia and I were invited to a gathering of leaders in Kansas City to meet with Sri Sri Ravi Sankar, a famous Indian Guru. When he entered the room with his entourage of assistants, I noticed that he stared at me several times as he moved among the forty people in our group. I knew that staring was a way that these spiritual leaders transmit to others. I felt a tingling each time he did. That's as close as I got.
At Broadway Chuch, where I pastored for 49 years, we began monthly Sunday evening healing services, praying for healing. These were low-key, quiet times where people would come up to be prayed for at first by Marcia and myself and later by our healing prayer teams. When we did this, many rested in deep, transcendent consciousness, and as they fell backward, two strong guys on our team would catch them and lower them safely to the floor. Some would remain there a few minutes and some an hour or so. I would often ask what they experienced. Usually, the answer was deep peace.
During this time, I was asked to teach at what was then called Unity Ministerial School. At the end of a course, I would invite the class to return to one of the large classrooms in the afternoon, where I would offer to pray for them. Marcia joined me as sixty or seventy students and faculty gathered in the room. Whoever wanted us to pray for them would come up to the front. We would lightly touch them on the head or arms. Marica would share a word or an image that was usually very meaningful. One I remember most was when she said, "I see lots of sheep," and proceeded to give him words using that imagery. When she was finished, the man said, "I used to be a shepherd in Palestine," and then he rested in transcendent consciousness. This would go on with many, if not most, resting in the deep non-ordinary consciousness. These students were usually second-career people in midlife planning to be Unity ministers.
We did this for several years until one day, in the middle of this prayer time, a school administrator passed by and looked in the window in the door. At this point, there were dozens on the floor. Some crying, some laughing, others shaking or resting on the floor peacefully. He took one look and reported this to the administration. They didn't ask me to return the following year. The students petitioned to have me teach but to no avail. So instead, they came to Broadway Church on several Saturdays for this class.
For most, this seemed to be a great experience. However, I remember one Unity minister, when we met again years later, said, "I didn't like that passing out thing. I was standing up one minute, and the next thing I knew I was getting off the floor. I don't know how I got there."
This phenomenon could be the result of several things. It could be the power of suggestion from seeing others rest this way. It could be like a trust fall where people just let go. It could be a surge of spiritual energy that shuts down a person's normal circuits to rest in a deep non-ordinary consciousness. Marcia makes it clear this was what happened to her.
Receiving Transmission to Me
I asked Luke to transmit his head space awakening to me a few months ago. I sensed he had an opening there that I did not yet have. So in one of our weekly meetings, he transmitted to me. Rather quickly, I felt a band around my head start to tingle. Then the whole top of my head began tingling. I felt a new space opening up in my third eye and head space. This tingling has not stopped since then. It was the last of my four centers to become open constantly. My heart, feet, and spiritual womb had been continually open before. Now all four centers are open on what seems to be a permanent basis.
What is important is not things like falling to the floor or having "tingling" experiences but rather the inner experiences of spiritual reality and deep inner identification with your divine inner self.
My experience in transmission
I have both prayed with and observed transmission prayer for hundreds of people for the last fifty years. In my experience, only a small percentage have a dramatic, overwhelming, or especially defining experience when they ask to be "baptized in the Spirit" or expanded consciousness.
One day I was in the grocery store, waiting in the checkout line after carefully deciding this was the fastest line for my husband, Ivan, and I to stand in. It was not. While I was fretting about wasting time, I thought, "Why not do a brief, eyes-open-so-I-don't-look-weird Whole Body Mystical Awakening practice." When I got to the resonating prayer part, I noticed my checker was a transgender woman who probably did not get much love but lots of rejection. So I sent her love. When she handed me my receipt, in front of God and the whole store, she gave me a big hug! Something happened! Now she hugs Ivan and me every time to visit her line, and, of course, we hug back!
The mystic path becomes relational in transmission.
What is different between us and the New Testament history of transmission? Notice that at the beginning of the church, strong leaders always did the transmitting. Today the evolving edge is from strong leaders in transmission to a robust communal collective of transmission. Jesus and other spiritual presences are still transmitting personally along with through gifted leaders who have natural authority. But all of that is now infused into the whole community. This infusion raises the power of transmission to a new level and influence.
This means that each ICN participant is invited to discover and embrace their own spiritual gifts, including the ministry of transmission, which is now ordained to everyone, not just a few.
Wherever you are and wherever you go, you are a transmitter. Accept that. Embrace it. Try it out. Practice it. Evolve in it. Own your spiritual power. That is the legacy of awakening to your divine, true self!
When we define spirit as awakened consciousness, we can then see there are many avenues to it. A sudden transforming experience, as we see in Acts. We see the slow work of contemplative prayer in mystics down through the ages. The Enlightenment found in Eastern traditions. Some Eastern traditions transmit spirit-awakening in a way similar to what Jesus, Paul, and Peter did.
At ICN, we welcome any and all authentic paths to waking up. We have found the practice of WeSpace Whole-Body Mystical Awakening to be especially geared to the collective transmission of awakened consciousness for those that follow the Jesus path.
Transmission works by doing it intentionally focused on sending and receiving loving, healing, and expanded awareness to others.
Questions for further reflection . . .
1. How do you understand the similarities between Eastern traditions and Jesus and the early church practice of transmission of awakening?
2. Have you ever been part of sending or receiving spirit-breath-consciousness by whatever name? Describe that experience.
3. What questions do you have or are you curious about in the practice of transmission?
All images are AI-generated or copyright free unless otherwise noted.